Tom_Lenihan
Tom Lenihan (1908–1990) was a well known Irish traditional singer from Milltown Malbay, County Clare, Ireland.
Tom and Margaret Lenihan (born Vaughan) lived in a farmhouse in Knockbrack, a few miles outside Miltown Malbay. He was a farmer and the local butcher.
According to the sleevenotes of the CD Around the Hills of Clare:[1]
Tom had a very large repertoire and positive ideas about singing. He insisted that the story was most important aspect; the singer's involvement with the song was paramount. To him it was vital that the singer used speech pat-terns, made sense of the words, singing them as close as possible to the way one would speak; to fit the tune to the words, not to make the words fit the tune. One can appreciate why Tom had so many narrative songs in his repertoire; his attitude to singing is illustrated on the two tracks of speech.